FEES & OUR FEE-ONLY APPROACH
You should understand how your financial advisor is paid.
Financial relationships are built on trust.
Part of that trust comes from understanding how your advisor is compensated and what you are receiving in return.
Fountain Wealth Partners provides wealth management through a fee-only fiduciary relationship.
Our clients pay us directly through disclosed advisory fees.
We do not receive commissions for recommending or selling investment or insurance products.
That structure allows the conversation to remain focused where we believe it belongs:
Why software alone falls short: How automated algorithms fail during critical life transitions, tax adjustments, and market volatility.
The four pillars of human wealth management: How direct access to a dedicated senior advisor, 100% fee-only fiduciary independence, comprehensive wealth coordination, and long-term continuity protect your legacy.
What you can expect as a client: The exact written deliverables, fee transparency, and local face-to-face access you gain by partnering with an independent CFP® lead advisor.
Why software alone falls short: How automated algorithms fail during critical life transitions, tax adjustments, and market volatility.
The four pillars of human wealth management: How direct access to a dedicated senior advisor, 100% fee-only fiduciary independence, comprehensive wealth coordination, and long-term continuity protect your legacy.
What you can expect as a client: The exact written deliverables, fee transparency, and local face-to-face access you gain by partnering with an independent CFP® lead advisor.
What is appropriate for you and your financial life?
Our compensation comes from our clients.
There are different ways financial professionals can be compensated. Some receive commissions when financial products are purchased or sold. Others may receive a combination of advisory fees and commissions.
Our advisory relationship is different.
Fountain Wealth Partners' compensation for advisory services comes directly from our clients through disclosed fees.
We do not receive commissions for selecting one investment over another.
We do not have proprietary investment products that clients are required to purchase.
And our advisors are not compensated based upon selling a particular financial product.
Our role is to provide advice—not to sell you something.
The relationship begins with an important responsibility.
Financial Consultants Group, Inc., doing business as Fountain Wealth Partners, is an SEC-registered investment adviser and serves its advisory clients as a fiduciary.
But we believe putting the client first should be evident in more than a regulatory description.
It should be reflected in how advice is delivered.
Understanding your circumstances before making recommendations.
Considering costs and tax implications.
Explaining choices and tradeoffs.
Identifying potential conflicts.
Recommending change when there is a reason for change.
And being willing to tell you when the appropriate recommendation may be to
do nothing at all.
The question should not be: “What can we sell?” It should be:“What makes the most sense for this client?”
Your portfolio is important. So is everything surrounding it.
For successful families, some of the most important financial decisions occur outside the investment portfolio.
That is why our wealth management relationship is designed to consider the broader financial picture.
Depending upon your needs, that may include:
Financial Planning
Bringing your assets, liabilities, income, spending, goals, and important financial decisions into one coordinated financial picture.
Investment Management
Building and overseeing a diversified portfolio aligned with your objectives, time horizon, income needs, risk considerations, tax circumstances, and broader financial plan.
Retirement & Income Planning
Helping determine when you can comfortably retire, how much you can reasonably spend, where retirement income should come from, and how your investment strategy may need to evolve along the way.
Tax-Aware Wealth Planning
Considering potential tax consequences when evaluating investment changes, retirement distributions, Roth conversions, capital gains and losses, charitable strategies, and other financial decisions.
Estate & Legacy Coordination
Helping consider beneficiary designations, account ownership, investments, family priorities, and financial strategies alongside the estate plan developed with your attorney.
Business-Owner Planning
Connecting the wealth inside a business with the owner's personal financial independence, retirement strategy, investments, succession considerations, and potential liquidity events.
Professional Coordination
With your permission, working alongside your CPA, estate attorney, insurance professionals, and other advisors so important financial decisions can be considered within the same broader financial picture.
Ongoing Advice
Being available as your circumstances evolve—and encouraging you to call us before making important financial decisions whenever possible.
The relationship is designed around your financial life, not simply the assets in your portfolio.
You should understand the relationship and its cost before becoming a client.
For ongoing wealth management relationships, Fountain Wealth Partners generally charges an advisory fee based upon the assets we manage for you.
Our advisory fee structure is designed to reflect the ongoing investment management, financial planning, advice, and coordination provided through the relationship.
Rather than asking a prospective client to determine which service or fee structure applies to them from a website, we prefer to first understand their circumstances.
- How much have you accumulated?
- How is it currently invested?
- What planning needs do you have?
- Are you approaching or already in retirement?
- Do you own a business?
- Are there trusts, concentrated investments, real estate, or significant tax considerations?
- What type of advice and ongoing relationship are you looking for?
Once we understand the financial picture, an advisor can explain how Fountain Wealth Partners would work with you and the advisory fee that would apply to the relationship.
Before becoming a client,
we will clearly explain:
The services we would provide
The assets we would manage
How the advisory relationship would work
The applicable advisory fee
How the fee is calculated and charged
Other investment-related costs that may apply
There should be no surprises about how we are compensated.
Additional information regarding our advisory services, fees, and potential conflicts of interest is also available in our current
Form ADV, accessible through this website.
Many of our relationships begin with $1 million or more in investable assets.
Our Wealth Management service is designed for individuals and families who want investment management integrated with broader financial planning and ongoing advice.
Clients often come to us as retirement approaches and their financial lives become more interconnected.
They may have accumulated several investment and retirement accounts.
They may be evaluating Social Security, retirement income, taxes, estate decisions, insurance, real estate, or family gifting.
Or they may simply have reached the point where managing everything independently—or through separate professionals—no longer feels like the best use of their time.
Many Fountain Wealth Partners relationships begin with
$1 million or more in investable assets, although asset level alone does not determine whether we are the right fit.
We consider the client's circumstances, planning needs, complexity, and the type of relationship they are seeking.
Are you approaching or already in retirement?
Do you own a business?
Are there trusts, concentrated investments, real estate, or significant tax considerations?
What type of advice and ongoing relationship are you looking for?
Once we understand the financial picture, an advisor can explain how Fountain Wealth Partners would work with you and the advisory fee that would apply to the relationship.
Asset level matters. Complexity often matters more.
As wealth increases, the number of interconnected financial decisions often increases with it.
Private Wealth relationships may involve:
Multiple investment accounts and entities
Trusts
Significant taxable portfolios
Concentrated positions
Business interests
Real estate
Charitable strategies
Significant tax considerations
Estate and wealth-transfer strategies
Children and grandchildren
Multiple generations of family wealth
Our Private Wealth offering is designed to provide greater coordination around those circumstances.
Private Wealth relationships often involve
$5 million or more in investable assets, although asset level alone does not determine fit.
The degree of complexity, planning needs, family circumstances, and coordination required are equally important.
The objective is not to make wealth more complicated. It is to make the complexity more manageable.
The lowest advisory fee is not necessarily the lowest financial cost.
Fees matter. We believe clients should understand them and periodically evaluate whether the relationship is providing appropriate value.
But the financial consequences of advice can extend well beyond an advisory fee.
Consider the decisions surrounding:
Investment risk.
- Taxes.
- Retirement timing.
- Social Security.
- Portfolio withdrawals.
- Concentrated positions.
- Charitable giving.
- Estate and legacy strategies.
- Business decisions.
And major financial choices involving your family.
A decision made without considering the broader financial picture can sometimes have consequences far greater than the difference between two advisory fee schedules.
That does not mean fees should be ignored.
It means they should be considered alongside the scope, quality, coordination, and continuity of the advice being provided.
So while asking: “What does the advisor charge?” is important, we believe another question matters just as much: “What am I receiving for that fee?”
The advisory fee is not necessarily the only cost associated with investing.
Depending upon the investments held in an account, clients may also incur underlying fund expenses, transaction costs, custodial charges, or other investment-related expenses.
Those costs are separate from Fountain Wealth Partners' advisory fee.
Cost is one of the factors we consider when evaluating an investment.
But it is not the only factor.
We also consider:
Investment objective
Risk
Diversification
Tax characteristics
Liquidity
Portfolio role
Manager expertise
Expected benefit relative to cost
We believe clients should understand not simply what they own—
but why they own it and what it costs.
Your investment assets are held with an independent custodian.
Client investment accounts are generally maintained in the client's name at independent qualified custodians, including Charles Schwab and Axos.
The custodian holds the assets and provides independent account statements and transaction reporting.
Fountain Wealth Partners receives authorization to manage applicable accounts according to the advisory agreement, while client assets remain titled with the independent custodian.
We believe this separation is an important part of a transparent advisory relationship.
| Cost & compensation element | Traditional commissioned broker | Hybrid "fee-based" firm | Fountain Wealth Partners (100% fee-only) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct advisory / management fee | Varies or zero (built into products) | 1.00%–1.50% advisory fee | Transparent flat or percentage-based fee |
| Insurance & annuity commissions | Up to 7.00% upfront + trail | Earned on insurance side | 0%—Never accepted |
| 12b-1 mutual fund distribution fees | Collected directly | Permitted on brokerage side | 0%—Rebated or avoided |
| Revenue sharing / custodial kickbacks | Standard practice | Common in hybrid setups | 0%—Banned by firm mandate |
| Written fiduciary agreement | No (Suitability standard) | Partial (Only on select accounts) | 100% written fiduciary commitment |
Four hidden fee channels in traditional brokerage accounts
Traditional brokerage and hybrid advisory accounts often carry hidden internal costs that reduce your net returns:
12b-1 marketing fees: Mutual fund fees deducted annually from fund assets and paid back to brokerage firms as distribution incentives.
Revenue sharing & "shelf-space" payouts: Asset managers paying brokerage platforms millions annually for preferred placement on approved client investment menus.
Surrender charges & exit locks: Contingent deferred sales charges built into equity-indexed annuities and illiquid alternative investments that penalize you for moving your capital.
Proprietary product spread: In-house funds or structured notes carrying higher internal management ratios that enrich the host firm.
Our fee-only fiduciary model eliminates every single one of these backend compensation channels, aligning every dollar in your portfolio directly with your goals.
We are not building portfolios around a proprietary product shelf.
Fountain Wealth Partners is not affiliated with an investment manufacturer that requires us to build client portfolios around proprietary products.
Our investment approach allows us to evaluate a broad universe of investments based upon the role each may serve within a client's strategy.
Depending upon the portfolio, that may include:
Exchange-traded funds
Actively managed funds
Individual securities
Municipal and taxable fixed income
Specialized investment strategies
Cash and short-term investments
Other appropriate investment solutions
Our starting point is not: “What product should we use?”It is: “What does this part of the portfolio need to accomplish?”
A good advisory relationship should make sense for both sides.
Fountain Wealth Partners may be a good fit if you:
Have accumulated meaningful wealth and want help coordinating it
Are approaching or living in retirement
Want more than investment management
Value proactive financial planning
Want tax considerations incorporated into financial decisions
Own or have sold a successful business
Have multiple accounts, trusts, properties, or other financial interests
Want your CPA, attorney, and wealth advisor working from a more coordinated strategy
Want both spouses involved and informed
Are thinking about children, grandchildren, charitable giving, or legacy
Want a team that can continue serving your family over time
We are not trying to be the right wealth management firm for everyone. We want to be the right firm for the families we are best equipped to serve.
Have multiple accounts, trusts, properties, or other financial interests
You don't need to figure out our services or fee structure on your own.
That is part of what the introductory conversation is for.
We would rather begin by learning about you.
What have you built?
What is changing?
What decisions are ahead?
What is working well today?
Where would you like more guidance or coordination?
And what would you like your wealth to make possible?
We can explain:
The services that would be appropriate for you.
How financial planning and investment management would work together.
How we would approach your existing investments.
How our team would work with you.
How we can coordinate with your other professionals.
And the advisory fee that would apply to your relationship.
You will understand how we work and what it costs before deciding whether to become a client.
There is no expectation that you make that decision during the first meeting.
David Fountain, CFP® — Founder & Lead Advisor
The right advisory relationship is about more than a percentage.
It is about having people who understand what you have built.
People who know what you want it to accomplish.
People who can bring the different parts of your financial life together.
And people you trust to help when an important decision arises.
If that is the kind of relationship you are looking for, we would welcome the opportunity to get to know you.
Regulatory & trademark disclosure
A confidential, no-obligation opportunity to learn more about Fountain Wealth Partners, how we work, and whether we may be the right fit for you and your family.
Alpharetta | Cumming | Serving clients throughout North Georgia and beyond
Your Goals.
Our Guidance.
Your Legacy.
FEES & TRANSPARENCY
Transparent, flat-fee pricing. No surprises
We believe you should know exactly what you are paying for and what you are getting in return. We operate under a transparent, flat fee-only pricing model.
Zero Commissions: We never profit from product sales or transactions
Zero Hidden Costs: No referral fees, third-party incentives, or asset-under-management markups
Complete Alignment: Our flat-fee structure ensures our incentives are completely aligned with your long-term financial security
